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Viretta Park Repair
Viretta Park Repair (VPR) aims to ecologically restore and repair Viretta Park while preserving the park's mix of developed and natural areas through collaborative work parties and community intervention. Utilizing the principles of permaculture, the effort will create a park that serves both as an urban neighborhood escape as well as a destination to remember and celebrate the life of Kurt Cobain and the music of Nirvana with creative memorial installations that reflect both the character of the park and the creativity of the band and the dedication of fans that visit the park. Part of the Park is zoned as developed and the other part as forested natural area. While areas of the park are listed as developed, the landscape says otherwise. Despite the fact that Nirvana fans continue to make the park a major destination, the condition of the park has slipped into disarray over years of neglect from lack of funds and volunteer efforts. Viretta Park Repair intends to change all of that! Join our first work party at Viretta Park Tentatively scheduled for late February 2011. Kurt Cobain's birthday walls on February 20th (he was born in 1967). Want to collaborate with the project or show up for one of our work parties? Of course you do! Please contact Daniel Johnson at (206) 369-2661. Primary areas of concern *Remove all holly trees, considered weeds of concern by King County, in all zones in the park. This includes removal of the large holly tree in the developed zone of the park near the benches in the lower park of the park. *The property along Lake WA Blvd needs massive restoration work. With only invasive weeds holding the slope, the area might be at risk for erosion and a serious slide. *Landscape design does not at all acknowledge what people are doing in the park nor where people are spending their time. **Most users come to the park to memorialize Kurt Cobain at the benches in the lower area, which are unfortunately right in the shadow of massive holly trees. ***Consider installing a memorial garden feature near the benches where most people visit. Perhaps a colorful dahlia garden that fans and VPR can help maintain? **Parks puts too much effort maintaining a viewpoint on top as if someone actually uses that part of the park and hardly anybody does. There is hardly any view at the top of the park and seems to serve mainly as an extended yard to the residence on the South, whose driveway cuts through the upper part of the park. Howard Schultz used to live here and left after the controversy became heated about his use of the driveway. **There are paths to nowhere in two areas of the park. **Where are the edibles? Very few juicy edible plants for visitors of neighbors and tourists to glean from. **High Maintenance turf areas that are not used. **No bike locks. **Make a fan designed rainbow sign with the name of the park to replace the off the shelf Parks Department version on site at the top of the park, a place where few people see or enjoy. **Rhodie garden to the North, adjacent to former Cobain/Love house, overtaken with weeds. Hopefully we can get these things changed. About Viretta Park :The following text is taking from the Viretta Park article on Wikipedia: Viretta Park is a 1.8 acre park in the Denny-Blaine neighborhood of Seattle, Washington at the foot of E. John Street at 39th Avenue E., stretching down to Lake Washington Boulevard E. It was named by Charles L. Denny after his wife, Viretta Jackson Denny. It is located north of the former home of Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz and south of the former home of Kurt Cobain, where he died. Nirvana fans gather at the park on the anniversary of Cobain's death (April 5) to pay tribute to the musician. The park's benches are covered with graffiti messages to the rock icon. There has been much speculation over the years on whether the name of the park should be changed to "Kurt's Park", due to the late rock icons large fan base. Getting started *Priority starting point. Start with what we agreed to with Jillian and get the invasives out of the lower part of the hill zone which is relatively flat. *Organize work parties with Kurt Cobain, Nirvana fans and neighbors. *Since much of the activity in the park centers around memorializing Nirvana's singe Kurt Cobain we should enlist his fans to come out to clean out the park. *Put up signs in the park advertising a work party? Music? *Advertise *Get Viretta Park to be listed on GSP's parks. History In order to jumpstart the project Daniel Johnson met with representatives from Seattle Parks & Recreation and Green Seattle Partnership in 2010. Jillian Weed (City of Seattle/GSP + no longer with GSP) and Karen Stener (Parks & Rec, Central East Gardener 2 (now working the the WA State Arboretum)) and brief appearance by Jon Martin (Parks and Rec, Central East District Crew Chief) made a short appearance. The group also looked at areas of Lake Washington Blvd and Lakeview Park which are all relatively close to Viretta. Contacts Primary contact at this early stage is Daniel Johnson 206 369 2661 Below is a wish list of people and organizations we would love to collaborate with! Some have already been contacted and we are working out how to collaborate and move forward. *The neighbors! *Seattle City Repair, the local incarnation of [Repair Project *[http://www.madisonparkseattle.com Madison Park Community Council *Seattle Permaculture Guild A gathering point for folks in Seattle wanting to practice, play with, and learn more about Permaculture. *Green Seattle Partnership 2011: Joanna Nelson (Green Seattle Partnership), Rory Denovan (Seattle Parks & Rec/GSP), Aretha Alexander (Seattle Parks and Recreation, Central Seattle Volunteer Coordinator) *Andre Anderson (The Cobain Memorial - Cobain.org) Offering help with website and outreach. *Rasmus Holmen (The Internet Nirvana Fan Club) Offering help Invasives on site English ivy, holly, clematis. We also consider turf invasive as it appears to invade natural areas and beds. External links *Seattle Park & Recreation's Vegetation Management plan for Viretta Park Viewpoint